Sliced...! Love this fruit....always makes my kitchen counter look like a crime-scene :-)

Josh

Nice Josh! how was the flavor? how many did you get off that tree?

Haven't picked any yet--just starting to bloom for the first time. From the looks of things it's going to be loaded with blossoms--although I'm sure it will drop both blossoms and fruit before I get to harvest next January.

glad I discovered this forum; beautiful pictures. here is a picture of my moro orange, just three years old.

I'm totally new here and just wanted to thank all the contributors to this thread, especially MeyerMike and Patty S.! I too have a Moro Blood orange tree (bought last year from 4 Winds) and I put it in a pot, very ignorantly with your standard potting soil from Lowe's and the tree did great, until it basically crashed and nearly died from what I now know was rotting, wet, compacted soil.

I first noticed all the leaves turn a sickly yellow, then I noticed ants and all the while I had two other citrus trees in pots (Meyer Lemon and Murcott) that were doing much better, though not great. A friend told me to fertilize so I got something at Home Depot (granules for citrus and avocado - seemed great cause I have an avocado in the ground in the front yard) but it did little to nothing. Finally, my grandma suggested liquid Miracle Grow and that's what started my, now, obsession with my potted citrus! Because the Miracle Grow TOTALLY transformed the Meyer and the Murcott - tons of new leaves everything greening up, fruit, flowers, etc!!! They looked great, and while the Moro got a little greener, it basically still looked like it was dying and so I turned to Google and I found you guys! Thank you so much for all the free advice you give! Seriously, it's been like a part time job for me the last week or so to pour over your posts about potted citrus.

Since finding this forum a week and a half ago, I have wicked it, for two days, then unpotted the Moro, found nasty, stinky rotting, wet soil and roots, completely wash them clean and repotted in Patty's mix (slightly modified to 3 parts moss-free citrus soil from Kellogg, 1 part reptile bark, 1 part pumice). It's definitely perked up a bit since repotting 6 days ago. Though in the meanwhile, I've gotten neem oil for the scale (that I discovered was being farmed by the ants that have been living in the pot since the winter). So I repotted, sprayed with Neem, hand picked scale off, got Terro ant bait traps (which seemed to be a big hit with the ant population!) and now I'm just waiting and hoping for recovery. I keep it on a bright porch but in the shade.

BTW - the reason the Meyer and the Murcott were/are doing so much better than the Moro is that they are in potting mix from the nursery - it looks to be very sandy and has perlite or vermiculite. I never repotted those as I got busy last year, but obviously they didn't rot like my poor little Moro cause with a little miracle grow they look awesome. I'm going to repot them into the same stuff as the Moro just got repotted into this summer. Just need to find some good looking pots first.

When I bought all these fruit trees I was a total newb. I knew almost nothing about gardening and even less about container trees, but I have a big, huge, heart for plants and backyard orchards and thanks to you guys I might have just saved all of my citrus trees.

Seriously, I cannot say it enough, thank you all.

Right on! I can't stress enough how important a quality potting mix and consistent fertilizer are for citrus in containers.

Josh

Josh, I have been waiting to see an update of your Moro this year.

Cory

Hey, Cory, here's an update pic of the Moro.
Lush and doing exceptionally well....although in need of re-potting desperately. I've moved all my citrus into a shadier corner of the deck. Our temps have been incredibly high.

Josh

I

It looks great Josh, so nice and full, dark green and lush. Thanks for posting the update photo for me. I enjoy seeing it's progress. I am always surprised how warm your temperatures get.

Cory

Thanks, Cory.

We've been in the high 90F's for a couple weeks, with many days over 100F. Plus, it's actually quite humid right now....well, by California standards at least. We had rain and lightning yesterday.

Josh

Josh - (since you seem to be the only one still getting notifications on this thread)

I just had to post a photo of my tree three months later (after following the advice here on potting mix and fertilization):

The left is *before* immediately after cleaning the roots and repotting into the soil-less mix, the right is exactly 3 months later to the day:

It took fully 4-5 weeks before the tree showed ANY signs of new growth up top (was really afraid it was too far gone) - and then it went crazy. It started to stall-out after a couple weeks and then I started with regular epsom salt in addition to fertilizer and it went crazy again and is thriving as you see. It's just covered in leaves now. (I live in So. California and it's been HOT and the tree seems to love it.)

Again, I'm soooo grateful to you guys (all of you on this thread even though you might never see this post). You saved my little moro - it's just doing better and better everyday.

Wonderful pictures!

That's wonderful, So nice to see many here apply the concepts as you did..Bravo! It's a nice looking tree..

Josh, if you see this, I have been sick today. Stayed home from work and saw I got a missed call from you. So sorry bud. I am going to try you now if you don't snowier, I will call again tomorrow)

The only thing with blood orange is how to get it to flower. Mine has grown to a big tree with two inch trunk in a big pot, not a single flower yet.

Tasty, thanks for updating! What a great turnaround!

Mike, sorry buddy! Rest up. We'll talk soon.

Josh

Mike and Josh,

I had to update (though it may be too early to rejoice) that my Moro that you guys helped me save has fruit on it now! It has lots of lovely flowers, but I waited until some started to form fruits before posting a photo... hoping they stick...

The flowers popped up a month or so ago with a whole new flush of leaves that came after some weird weather caused a lot of leaf drop. (It was unusually cool in So. Cal for awhile, then we had some hot dry winds and crazy warm days in the 90s and tons of leaves yellowed and fell off my tree. You can see some of the yellowing in that photo even. The tree started growing new leaves almost immediately and a bunch of flowers along with.)

It's looking great now and I'm so excited to see if those little fruits turn into oranges for me. :)

Hope all is well with your trees.

Hey, Tasty, thanks for updating!

My Moro went through the same phases, including the brief leaf-drop, followed by a great flush of new growth, flowers, and then fruit. Quite a few of the fruit were dislodged by wind, but several have held on. Just be sure to consistently water and fertilize now that the trees are awake and in growth/flower/fruit mode.

Josh

Hard to believe it's been six years since I purchased this Moro, my first citrus. What a great tree. I should have repotted years ago.

Josh

is the tree in the last pic before this post 6-7 years old ?

Its never too late, Add 3 gallons in pot size minimum, your tree will love you.for size reference Can I assume the decking boards are 6 inches wide.

Nick, yes, that's a picture from today.

Steve, I have the new container ready to go...bought it last year. Every time I plan to repot, though, the tree either flushes with growth, puts out flowers, or develops fruit....making me loath to upset it. I'll most likely just up-pot instead of a formal root disturbing re-pot. April is when this will happen.

Josh

Up-Potting is all I do. I feel the same way about disturbing good growth. I didn't know there was a difference in the meaning of up-potting and re-potting. best of luck anyway

Hoping to get my trees as dark and lush as Josh's, wow! Beautiful tree, Josh!

A few weeks ago I repotted my Meyer Lemon into the same mix as the Moro and hoping to see it recover as well (it's always been a good fruit producer, but is a sad and gangly looking little thing). Hoping to get good "before & after" pics of that one too, we'll see.

-Michelle

Tasty...Thank you for the update..That makes me happy to see others successful! All you have to do is make sure you fertilize, consistently, and when temps are consistently not too warm and not to cool with the right pH solution, your trees will be an awesome dark green and shine like jewels, like Josh's do.

Josh, I was surprised you even had a chance to re pot it way back when it was in it's old mix...It's always growing for you!! Such a beautiful job!! Thanks for showing us your tree too...

What a great thread. I just bought my Moro yesterday.

@greenman28 Did you upload your pictures again? The ones at the beginning of your thread were not visible a few days ago.

Hey, Laramie, I did not. Must have been a glitch in the system?

Josh

Josh, did you put that tree into a larger container this past month? All these years I would imagine it's root mass looks like hydroponic root system ;) Sneak it into a bigger pot and let her grow some more already LoL

Joe, I still have not!

The tree is covered in fragrant open blooms now, and pushing tender new growth!

I really, really do need to give it more room. I'm afraid of the root-snarl I'll find.

Josh

Ignore your teeth and they will go away. All other problems get bigger with time including potted citrus root wrapping.

Steve

Yes, Steve, I'm quite aware.

Thankfully I use a durable mix that mitigates most of the problems associated with the mixes that most others use.

Josh

Josh It sounds like you and I have a good handle on the dirt formulas. If I have problems its spider mites or aphids.

Steve

Josh, you know what it needs. I doubt the roots are as bad as you fear. They're probably nearly solid fine feeder roots anyway. If you set a few inches or medium in bottom of your new container just ease it out onto it and gently pour in the edges... 'sneak' it in without disturbing what's there. Your tree won't even know what happened. Ideally you should of done it about 2 months ago. 9-10 months will be here all too soon and you can do it then but your now going on 7 years without a repot for such a pretty tree! Imagine if that same time had it been in soil mix.. LoL I doubt the tree would be alive let alone in bloom. I have to just force my lazy self the first month of spring to get out and start repotting trees. This was the first spring in a very long time I didn't have a week of work because the bark based mixes looked just fine! If I could locate some good pumice I plan on making a mix very similar to yours but that stuff is priced like it's gold here! I read almost all of it sold comes from Colorado. There are quarries of both the red and black stone there. What little bit I do have I crushed myself from landscape golf ball size material. Big mess and a lot of lost stone became dust. Not very practical at all. I did grow out a Meyer Lemon in a mix with a good bit of pumice in the mix and the tree did quite well in it. I would just need about 80 gallons to change out the citrus. ( BTW, the Flying Dragon I showed you pics of grew out in a gritty type mix for about 6 months until it was out of the drain holes I put it into that old crock in the photo I showed you. They seem to grow in about anything I've tried)

Hi Joe, it's nice having you around....)

That really is a pretty tree. You guys in Cali get the sun citrus like so much. Mike, thanks. I know Josh from FB for awhile now. Funny how long this thread has gone on! It could one day be a virtual record of a tree's lifetime. BTW, Josh, its unfortunate how difficult it is to find out what the rootstocks are are on these grafted trees! IMO it seems we could fine tune for the roots if we knew what species they were. Where is your variegated tree the deer like so much? They grow better grouped up to keep each other company :)

The variegated tree is "behind" me from the perspective these pics were taken. I have all the others grouped together. The Moro has been held at distance, due to the recent discovery of scale....which now appears to be gone.

The variegated Eureka needs re-potting badly, as well....it's between growth flushes and bloom, so I might take advantage of this weekend's cooler weather to get that done.

Josh

I too think your tree is very nice looking.

IMO I believe that potted citrus trees should be grafted to rootstock with the best wet soil and cold resistance. I believe that Flying dragon and Poncirus Trifoliata are about the best choices if the scion is compatible. This gives the tree added cold tolerance, adds sweetness to lower sugar level fruit variety. Suckers are Trifoliata and easy to find. roots are compact and very fibrous.

Steve, thing to keep in mind very few tree's are sold in the US are grafted with the intention of them being kept in containers long term. I've seen a couple small companies finally grafting combinations for hobbiest but almost every large scale production operation grafts for certain soil types or more around their possible customers soil types. I agree and think the Flying Dragon is probably the best choice for container bound trees with Swingle Citrumelo probably the closest alternative. Far as how much effect a root stock has on the scion.. I'm not totally sold that the behaviors of one is much different than the other. The actual genetic linage of the scion will matter more far as fruit flavors and sweetness is from proper cold hours and nutrient health being meet correctly. Unfortunately, it's also a myth that the cold tolerant aspects of a root stock somehow makes the top growth also more cold tolerant. (I sure wish that were true! Would save me a lot of work) Lots of tests have shown that the top growth will freeze just as easily irregardless which root stock was used. Grafting doesn't merge the two species individual genetic characteristics. ;) Some websites advertise that just to sell product. The internet has so much contradictory information, esp about this topic. I am always looking for a seed source for more Flying Dragon if anyone knows a good source ;) I'd like to keep an annual rotation growing for grafting experiments and more dwarf trees. I would probably have a yard full of citrus trees if I lived where they could overwinter outdoors.

• Rootstock doe have a noticeable effect on fruit size moisture content acid, and sugar content/ratios. Almost all citrus trees are grafted for production and speed to good production. Flavor is never chosen over production unless that particular rootstock is very detrimental to a cultivar's taste. Poncirus Trifoliata and flying dragon can add several degrease F to the safe freeze temperature of many varieties. There have been lots of test to the cold survival of citrus as well as brix to acid ratios by rootstock cultivar.

Size and how the tree grows 'yes'; as for the other aspects I've read the original genetics of the scion were what had the largest effects. At any rate that's another subject for another thread :) Nice to meet you all.

I live about 40 miles south of Houston and about 20 mi. from the Gulf. Our winters are quite variable. I have about 30 grafted trees in the ground with the most being on P. trifoliata, but some are on sour orange, Swingle, and Citrange. A lot of my trees on sour orange will bud out early and the new growth is then suceptable to freeze damage. Blood oranges are the least cold hardy of the so-called temperate zone citrus. Hardening off is definitively helped by P. trifoliata

Josh, I just looked through all the pics of your tree. What a beautiful tree!!! You have really done a spectacular job of caring for it. I can't wait to see your oranges!!!

I hope my tree has such large and glossy leaves like yours someday! (Not to mention the flowers and fruits!)

Is this a dwarf variety or do you keep it compact? Great looking tree

First time Gardner, I can answer that. It's technically probably a 'semi' dwarf. But in a container kept tree we can limit size by pruning roots and tops. There are grafted trees regarded more as 'dwarf' that are on Flying Dragon rootstock. But even those can grow to become a proper little tree. I have some on their own roots that I limit their overall size by pruning them pretty aggressively in the early spring. (I also prune the roots back to keep them in the same sized containers) By offering root space the tops tend to grow much better. Citrus grow so quickly in just a couple months they can add back 4ft of growth! Grafted trees tend to grow slower though but still need pruned to maintain a shorter bushy type shape. Hope that helps explain a bit more.

Rootstock affects cold tolerance mainly indirectly through affecting the timing and rate of 'juice flowing' and bud breaking. Similarly, absorption of nutrients AND capacity to move those nutrients up through the bud union may affect fruit size and quality (sugars, solids etc). No need for 'DNA's to be mixed'..

Josh how is the tree these days??

By the way, I have left you two messages to call..